On occasion of this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Google has selected a number of points of interest around the city, offering them the opportunity to take part in the ‘Barcelona Go Mobile’ initiative and mobilising their webs.

As one of the 26 selected points of interest, which span culture, tourism, gastronomy and leisure, Google has invited the Museu Picasso to participate in this initiative, and here is the result: our website with all of its main contents is available for mobile. The initiative is also being supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya (by way of the Invest in Catalonia project) and the Barcelona City Council.

The museum already has a free application for iPhone, giving access to the highlights from the permanent collection, plus a specially adapted version of the website that takes you through a virtual tour of the historic courtyards. This first mobile version of the website marks a further step in our compromise to engage more closely with the lifestyle of the museum’s users and visitors. If the user is mobile, then the museum should be, too.

Map of locations

The number of people accessing the Internet from mobile devices is increasing every day and the ‘post-PC Era’, as Steve Jobs said, has already begun! In this context, enabling the public — tourists and locals alike — to access the most important contents and services of the leading cultural institutions must be seen as a key factor in the dissemination and valorization of the cultural and artistic heritage and several centres around the world have already made a start on this. To mention just a few of those with mobile-adapted websites: the Museo del Prado, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam,  and others.

So, what does the adaptation involve? It’s actually quite a complex process. It calls for a thorough analysis, summary and condensation of the content, because all of the most important information has to go into a small space. The basic criteria that we took into account in planning our adaptation were:

• Selection of the content of most relevance for the user
• Condensation and lay out of the information
• Structuring teh web map in line with the mobile user’s priorities
• Ensuring a clear design and easy navigability

In other words, a lot of information in very little space, well structured, and not always with the same format as the museum’s regular website, because it’s important to bear in mind that the people who use the regular website are probably not doing the same things or accessing the same content as a mobile user, whose time online is shorter and more expensive.

The Museu Picasso’s mobile-adapted website is now up and running. That said, one or two things still need a final polish, so any suggestions of improvements will be welcome!

Anna Guarro & Cristina Martín